BMC buys Partnerpedia for secure app-store technology

BMC is continuing its push into the consumerization-of-IT trend with the acquisition of Partnerpedia, which makes software companies can use to roll out secure, governed app stores to their end users. Terms of the deal, which closed last month, were not revealed.

Partnerpedia's AppZone software gives IT departments the ability to make volume purchases of applications from sources such as Apple's iTunes store and push them into a private catalog for company use, said Geoff Mair, senior director of product development for BMC and founder of Partnerpedia.

Then the applications can be obtained by employees based on access policies set by IT, he said.

The goal is to radically streamline the way workers can get the applications they need, while preserving proper oversight of what's being downloaded and used, according to Mair.

Once a user leaves the organization, the licenses attached to their applications can be revoked and the software wiped from their device, he said.

It can take a long time for an individual employee to find an application they want, get permission from IT and then begin installing and using it, he added. "Our goal is to bring that number down to minutes."

IT departments will also get a break from the burden of managing multiple enterprise app stores, as AppZone provides a means to consolidate access in one place, he said.

BMC plans to tightly integrate AppZone with MyIT, the self-service IT services portal it launched last year.

AppZone is priced at US$3.50 per user per month, with volume discounts available. The SaaS (software as a service) product will be available in stand-alone form as well as an add-on to MyIT.

BMC competes in the IT services-management software market with the likes of CA Technologies and Hewlett-Packard, but AppZone is and will remain a vendor-neutral product, said Jason Frye, senior director in the office of the CTO.

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